Gunslinger DxD
by ahsoei
Summary: The Dark Tower has been maintaining, as well symbolising, the balance and harmony between the separated worlds. As a new evil threatened to destroy the balance, the gunslingers would have to take up their arms again. POSSIBLY OOC, OCs, and rate may change in future. You have been warned.
1. Chapter 1

**Gunslinger DxD**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _The stories about gunslingers had been passed down from generation to generation, by various races across the world. Armed with guns, harnessed physique and mentality, as well as unparalleled marksmanship in their arsenals, the gunslingers had been hunting down creatures and monsters that were beyond the realm of mankind._

 _Nobody truly knew the gunslinger's origin, where they came from. However, gunslingers had been reported across the history for performing nearly-superhuman feats of strength, endurance and concentration. Some people believe the source of their power was from the heavens themselves. As they protected the balance of the world, gunslingers would receive blessings from different gods._

 _Some claimed that the order of gunslingers were once an order of knights using swords and shields, but as the mankind prospered and began to invent and develop more advanced weapons, they came to favour more modern firearms._

 _Interestingly enough, the opinions regarding gunslingers would vary from time to time, and from place to place. Some said that the gunslingers were heroes, the protectors of balance._

 _Some said that they were mercenaries, bounty hunters, assassins, soldiers of fortune that would only hunt and kill for a right price._

 _Some would even say that they were a bunch of cold-blooded murderers who would kill indiscriminately._

 _Nevertheless, not just anyone could become a gunslinger; the title could only be earned through strict process and rituals following their tradition, before one could be recognised as a gunslinger. Unfortunately, their very tradition was the cause of their bloodline to thin out, as there were cases where even family members failed to become a gunslinger; not to mention their line of work that tended to cost them their own lives._

 _As time went by, people ended up believing that the gunslingers had perished._

 _If only they knew…_

oXo

A young man was dreaming.

He was dreaming about the past. However, he could not truly make out the entire scene that played out before him. Yet, at the same time, he could see a little boy with similar features of his own.

 _That's me…_

The young man looked again, then he could vaguely make out the sight of a man who was standing tall before him, his arm was outstretched, his hand was holding something.

 _A gun…?_

The man fired his gun, the resounding gunshots echoed in his ears as the gunman hit all of the targets. The young man then saw the boy clapping, excited and amazed at the flawless marksmanship.

However, when the young man blinked, his eyes were suddenly met with the face of the adult man with the gun. It was like switching from a third-person point of view into a first-person all of sudden. Nevertheless, the young man could feel the gunman's strong, yet soft hand caressing his hair.

… _Who is he?_

The young man actually felt that he had met the gunman somewhere, but he could not remember. Then, he saw the gunman's lips were moving, as if he was saying something; sounded pretty important. The young man tried to focus his hearing, but he could only vaguely heard few pieces of words.

… _Do not aim with… He who…. The face of his father… I… with…_

… _.Shoot with… He… his father… I… with…_

… _I kill… my…._

However, he could not make out what the gunman was saying, as the latter began to fade away, along with the scenery around him.

Then, all of sudden, the young man found himself floating in a void world, a place where in every direction was a mix of iridescent colour. The young man looked around in awe, he felt like he was floating inside a kaleidoscope.

Few moments later, the young man then saw a dark structure towering over him. What was more, circling around the dark tower, as if guarding the tall structure, was a massive creature soaring over him. The young man could not really discern the creature's appearance, but he could tell that the creature before him was _powerful_. He inwardly hoped that the creature's golden orbs would not spot him.

However, the moment of tension was interrupted as he heard a booming voice. He turned around to see a streak of light suddenly shot out from the empty world, aiming towards the dark tower. Then, as if on guard, the creature roared – it was not just an ordinary roar, it was a roar of power. The power exuding from the creature easily deflected the incoming streak of light, protecting the dark tower in the process.

Then, the young man heard a bestial roar. The red dragon growled as it turned to see another monster, looking even more terrifying, coming out from the same spot where the streak of light was seen earlier. The young man could not really make out the entire appearance, but he could say for sure that the beast's size was several times bigger than the first creature he encountered. Moreover, he could have sworn that the creature possessed multiple heads, limbs and other appendages. Overall, it was an abomination.

The world around the boy then shook as the guardian creature roared and clashed against the beast – the abomination. Despite the difference in size, both of them were equals in terms of strength and power as they kept attempting to overwhelm each other.

Then, with the guardian was pre-occupied with the abomination, another streak of light flew across the empty dimension, all the way until the light impacted against the dark tower. Strangely enough, when he saw the streak of light, he also heard what sounded to be blood-curling scream of pain. As soon as he saw the dark tower crumbling apart, everything was static and fuzzy in his eyes.

As his vision became blurry, Issei could only catch glimpses of several figures and sceneries.

Humanoid creatures with different wings respectively; some had pure white wings like a pigeon, some had pitch-black wings like a crow, some had leathery black wings like a bat.

The darkening blue sky, not from normal clouds, an ominous storm was brewing before hell came upon earth.

Two dragons – red and white battling against one another, bringing forth destruction around them.

Then a figure of a man with six pairs of bat wings, silver hair and clad in ceremonial robe, laughing madly at the chaos before him.

Then, the young man felt a pulse on his left arm. Upon inspection, he found his left arm was shining in crimson-red light, the light started to burn his left arm, eliciting a cry as the young man's view was obscured by the light.

* * *

[Please wake up! If you don't wake up, I'm gonna kiss you! Please wake up! If you don't wake up, I'm gonna kiss you!]

Inside a normal-sized bedroom, a young man was panting on his bed. The T-shirt he wore as sleepwear was clinging on his skin from the sweats over his body. He took a look at his left arm – the said limb was fine without injury whatsoever, then he took a deep breath to calm himself, as he ran his hand over his short spiky brown hair. He turned towards his alarm clock that had an anime girl with pink hair styled in twin-tails, wearing an elaborate costume that emphasized her feminine figure, as its theme. The said alarm clock was the same clock that had been saying things about kissing him if he did not wake up.

The young man found himself smiling slightly at the girl on the clock, particularly at her pair of knockers. For some reasons, those heavenly soft pair known as 'boobs' always capable of soothing him, at least to a degree. After he clicked his alarm clock off, the door to his room was swung open, revealing a middle-aged woman with long, brown hair, which in similar shade as the young man's own.

"Ise, breakfast will be cold if you don't get ready-" the woman then paused when she saw the state of the young man who was her son. Few seconds later, the woman relaxed as she came over took a seat next to her son on the bed. "…Another nightmare?" she said with soft tone as her hand softly caressing her son's hair.

"Yeah..." The boy – Ise, Hyoudou Issei, sighed softly as he silently enjoyed the warmth of his mother's hand. "…But don't worry. I'll be fine, mom." He smiled at his mother.

The mother stared at her son for few seconds later before she relented with a small smile. "Then go wash off those sweats and get dressed. I'll be waiting downstairs." The woman stood up from the bed and gave a look around at her son's room. She then gave an exasperated sigh before she walked out. Truly, her son's range of hobbies could worry her even more than his nightmare tendencies.

Ise's bedroom was boys of his age's typical bedroom in general: a single-bed, a wardrobe, a desk complete with a chair, light-stand, and a laptop for his leisure. The walls however, were adorned with diverse posters. Most of them were pictures of girls and women with revealing clothes, with all of them emphasizing their breasts (some showed their buttocks) for everyone to look at.

However, at one section, was few sets of posters that seemingly out of place – guns and firearms. To be precise, revolvers that people tend to see in wild-west movies. Ise himself was not sure himself, but apart from his porn, things that were guns-related somehow interested him, albeit not as much as pair of tits – or so he believed. Sometimes, he would secretly comparing the guns he saw in his dreams with the guns he came to see from various sources.

Then again, posters of guns were not as bizarre when one turned towards the wall above his desk. There were papers pinned on the wall, and on those papers were drawings – not that outstanding, but qualified enough to be viewed as decent sketches that Issei drew with a pencil.

Those sketches were what Ise saw in his dreams – his nightmares that he had been having ever since the final year of his elementary school. The dream was not frequent, but they showed pretty much the same sight whenever they occurred, enough for Ise to be able drawing them after seeing them for the past five years.

There was the sketch of the gunman; until now, Issei still could not make out the face of him, as well as his gun.

There was also the sketch about the dark tower.

Then there was the sketch of the three creatures with wings facing off against each other, followed by more sketches of the dragons, and the silver-haired man in ceremonial robes.

On that note, there was no sketch about the beast, as Issei could not even imagine what sort of creature it was based on.

So far, only a handful of people who knew about his nightmares and sketches, and their responses were not favourable. As much as he wanted to get rid of those drawings, to get rid of his dreams, Ise could not find himself to do so; as he could only let his curiosity to lead him around.

Truthfully, his passion for women's breasts were terrific distractions, at least his perversion was able to give a sense of normalcy in his life, as ironic as it might sounded.

Speaking of, Ise did a stretch to his bodies, after feeling that his body fully woke up; he did a quick look around, admiring his collections. He sighed in bliss and longing, for he always wished to wake up to see a pair of real-life boobs – a nice girlfriend was always one of his wildest dreams.

Then, he glanced at the posters of the guns on one section of the wall. He then recalled his dreams earlier, the guns he saw in the hand of the gunman was… blurry, he could barely make out its shape and details. But from his research so far, the gun sort of resembled the Peacemaker Colt Single Action Army – SAA .45 Long Colt. At the same time, he vaguely thought that the shape of the gun in his dreams also resembled a Remington design.

Realising that he still got school for the day, Ise put the thought aside and proceeded to his morning rituals, he then came down to join his mother for breakfast. The breakfast affair went without a hitch, the mother and son would share small talk to light up the mood, because it was only two of them in the house.

Ise would steal glances at the pictures on the drawer at the corner of the dining room – family pictures to be exact. Strangely enough, there was no picture where his parents and him together in one frame. There were numerous picture of him with his mother, but none of them involved his father.

 _Father._

There was only one picture of him, him alone. Even so, Ise could not really make out his father's facial features because the upper-half of his father's face was obscured with a trimmed hat.

Come to think of it, Ise could not recall the time he spent with his father. Strange, he could remember his childhood – most of it, like when he used to play around with a neighbour's child until the said child had to move out of country with his family, an old man, the wonderful old man who sparked his new-founded passion, and his encounter with his friends who shared his passion in his fifth grade.

However, Ise drew blanks when it came to his memory with his father. When he asked this matter to his mother once, the latter simply responded that he had spent good time with his father, like how he would ask for a piggy back ride, play softball together at the park, those kind of normal stuff. According to her, his father was now working overseas for unforeseen amount of time in order to make a living for the family.

Issei did not buy the story, at least not all of them. He believed that there was something more about his father, but he decided not to press the subject. He loved and trusted his mother, so he would wait. As a matter of fact, perhaps the part about his father working overseas was true; because just on the other day, Issei and his mother just received a mail from the man of the house himself, with a picture that showed a scenery from Greece – without himself in the picture. What was his father at Greece? God knows.

* * *

Kuoh Academy, a former all-girls private school that was recently turned into a co-ed school. Issei was at first reluctant to attend such a prestigious academy, since the tuition fee was quite high and he was worried if his mother could shoulder the burden to pay his study. However, his mother said that they had enough money in their bank account to cover the fees, which the young man assumed was from his travelling father, so Issei decided to go along with it. After spending more than a year in Kuoh, Issei has to admit that it was pretty much a good place.

However, there was something that had been bugging him when he walked pass the school gate.

Ever since he had been having those dreams, Issei found his senses steadily increased periodically. Currently, as Issei's eyes looked around, he could notice the subtle movements of his schoolmates. Hell, he could even make out few words from whispering girls in the distance. He could also easily spot several of his classmates and teachers from his spot all the way through the windows at the main building, which was at least 50 meters away.

Speaking of, Issei just saw his two friends and classmates, Matsuda and Motohama putting their shoes in their lockers, in the midst of tens of other students. And Issei had not walked even half-way from the school gate.

" _What the hell is going on with me?"_ Issei inwardly wondered as he massaged the bridge of his nose.

He then decided to focus, to ignore all unnecessary information he got from his senses, and quickly caught up with his two friends on the way to their class.

"Oh, what's up, Ise?"

"Mornin', man."

"G'mornin', Matsuda, Motohama." Issei returned the greetings of his two friends – Motohama, a boy with bald head and Matsuda, a guy with glasses.

The three of them had been infamously known as the perverted trio. Over two years of their enrolment in the academy, the three had been charged repeatedly for sexual harassment (nothing extreme, because all they did was peeping girls changing clothes), bringing inappropriate material such as pornography to school grounds, and… well, basically something along those, which enough for them to gain ire from majority of the girls in the academy.

Currently, the three were attempting another act of debauchery by peeping into the kendo club's girl's changing room. Issei just had to have the shorter end of the stick as he had to wait Matsuda and Motohama relinquishing their eyes. After all, every female student of Kuoh Academy could be considered charming/attractive.

While Issei was impatiently waiting and listening Motohama and Matsuda measuring and commenting the girls' figures, Issei suddenly felt something was wrong, like his instinct was screaming at him to run for his life. He looked around, searching for the cause of his instinct going haywire. Few seconds later, Issei's ears picked up a sound, a noise of several foot-steps heading towards his location.

That was enough for Issei to know that it was time to retreat. "Hey, we gotta get out of here. Run!" Issei tapped both of his friends' shoulders and scrammed.

Unfortunately, Matsuda and Motohama failed to understand the message as they simply stared dumbly at Issei's retreating back. "Wait, what do you mean?"

The sound of throat-clearing snapped both Matsuda and Motohama who anxiously and mechanically turned their heads around, only to see a mob of girls carrying bamboo swords surrounding them. They were third years and few second years of the kendo club.

"Hey, boys." The supposedly leader of the girls greeted with a smile that did not reach her eyes in the slightest, the bamboo sword was resting on her shoulder. "What are you two doing here, I wonder?" the rest of the girls accompanying her were not amused at Motohama and Matsuda.

"Huh, so Hyoudou is not with you today? That's new…" One of the girls beside the leader looked around.

Only in that moment Matsuda and Motohama realised why their comrade had ran away. They did not know if they should feel stupid for not realizing Issei's message sooner, or angry that Issei just bailed on them. However, they still had more important matter of concern, which was the approaching girls that began to raise their weapons above them.

"DIVINE PUNISHMENT!"

Later that day, screams of pain and agony echoed across the academy.

oXo

"You bastard, you traitorous bastard!"

"I told you to run, didn't I?"

"You could've told us that someone was walking on us!"

"They're approaching fast! Like hell I'm gonna let myself got beaten up without seeing any boobs!"

The perverted trio were now regrouping in front of the school's old building, as the name implied, the old school building was an old Victorian style building that had never been used ever since the school became co-ed. However, the old building had been well-known by the student body to be the place where a certain club was operating.

Just when the three were busy arguing and throwing blames, Issei felt his instinct kicked in again, forcing him to look up. When he did however, he was met with a _peculiar_ sight.

Perhaps Issei could claim that he was looking at the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes on; fair skin, with beautiful face, red crimson hair flowing by the wind, and her teal coloured eyes staring right at him. However, at the same time, his mind kept telling that he had to get away as soon as possible, as far as possible. Something was plain… off with that woman.

"Alright, alright. We gotta get back. The break is almost over, remember?" Issei quickly ushered his friends to leave.

Motohama and Matsuda stared at him for a second, but they relented with a sigh. Perhaps there was no use to debate over spilled milk. "Fine… By the way, let's meet at behind the new school building. There's actually something I want to show y'all." The former said with a smirk, garnering curious looks from the other two.

Long story short, when the school had ended, Issei and his two friends were heading towards their rendezvous point. However, as they went to the stairs, they, or more precisely, Issei, ran into a familiar face.

The halls erupted with voice and whispers of admiration and respect, as the girl with crimson hair walked with well-trained grace.

"Oh… That's Rias Gremory-senpai! The hottest woman in the school and president of Occult Research Club!" Matsuda exclaimed with red face.

"99… 58… 90…!" Motohama whispered with husky voice as he began shamelessly measuring Rias' sizes.

Rias did not bother with the stares and attention, because Issei knew that Rias was taking a glance at him. His instinct began to go haywire again, however, when Issei's eyes laid upon her boobs, his fear lessened considerably.

Such a beautiful sight, Issei could not help but admire a pair of tender flesh that were planted on Rias' chest. Who cares if Rias' presence put him on the edge, that pair of heavenly breasts were totally worth it, at least for him. Ignoring the alarm that was going off in his head, Issei used all the time he had to drink every nook and cranny of Rias' figure into his brain.

It was when Rias had completely disappeared from view, Issei let out a breath out of bliss _and_ relief, much to his confusion. He just encountered the most gorgeous woman on school _twice,_ so why was he afraid?

Nevertheless, the trio then continued their trek until they arrived at the secluded part of the school-yard. As they sat on the ground, Motohama began to fish into his bags. "You see, when Ise told us about his interest in guns, I'm kind of curious and began to look into it myself. Then, I found one of my cousin's old belongings…"

Issei and Motohama's eyes widened at the sight of a _gun_ in Motohama's hand. It was a Colt SAA with 4.75" barrel – Civilian model revolver, the metal coating the weapon was still in pristine condition, making the gun looked sparkling in the boys' eyes.

"Holy shit, man!" Matsuda stared incredulously at Motohama, albeit his eyes were that of excitement. "You're lucky that neither teachers or student council found out about this."

"Haha, relax, relax. I've calculated everything so my bag won't be inspected. Besides, this is just a model, and it's not even loaded." Motohama grinned cheekily. "Kind of cool, isn't it? I think I kind of understand why Ise is interested in this kind of stuff."

Meanwhile, Issei remained silent as he stared at the gun before him. It was such a strange feeling, like the gun was beckoning him to wield it, to get a feel on it.

"Ise?"

Motohama's voice snapped Issei out of his stupor. "Wanna to get a feel, maybe?" the former asked while handing out the said firearm.

Issei wordlessly reached out and took the gun by the handle. Then, as if in autopilot – hooking his finger in the trigger hole, Issei suddenly was spinning and manoeuvring the gun as if he was a freaking cowboy.

It was as if the world around him had stopped as Issei kept spinning the gun with the coordination of his fingers. He spun the gun back and forth for a couple of times, before he paused to click back the hammer, revelling its sound for a second. Then he continued to spin it again, back and forth, while pulling and putting the hammer back and forth, for a couple of seconds later until he snapped the gun to the side into aiming position, his thumb putting back the hammer back into its previous position.

Issei blinked as if he just returned to the realm of consciousness. He turned to see Motohama and Matsuda were staring at him with their jaws dropped to the ground. The three fell into deafening silence for few seconds, until Motohama and Matsuda closed their mouths with audible pop, before the latter commented. "…Holy fucking shit."

"Ise… That's probably the coolest thing I've ever seen from you other than your porn and eroges. How the hell did you do that?"

"I… I…" Issei was the most befuddled one. He tried to spin the gun again, but the firearm only wobbled awkwardly in his trembling hand. He then looked around between his friends and the revolver in his hand, but he was not sure of what he should say in return. "…I don't know. It… It just happened." Issei finished with a shrug while giving an awkward, nervous smile.

Then, before the conversation could have gone further, Issei suddenly heard a foreign voice.

… _Do not aim with… hand._

Issei put his hand on his creased forehead, as the voice – the words kept echoing.

… _Who aims with… hand has forgotten the face of his father._

Issei closed his eyes, trying to keep his thought together.

… _Aim with…_

"Ise?"

Issei snapped his eyes opened, looking at Matsuda and Motohama who were staring worriedly at him. "…You good, man? You look kind of pale there." The former asked.

"Sorry…" Issei sighed heavily as he relaxed his body. "I guess I gotta go home and take an early sleep. I'll see you later guys. Make sure nobody find out you carrying a gun, Motohama." He then quickly stood up and left promptly, leaving Matsuda and Motohama behind without waiting for their reply.

* * *

Issei sighed as he was standing on a bridge nearby the shopping district; his body was propped on the railings as he just finished his can of soda.

So many weird things had happened as of late, and it all began from those damnable dreams. Those weird voices about aiming, shooting and all; the vision about dark tower with monsters fighting around it, not to mention about the chaos that ensued upon the tower's destruction.

Then, his gradually sharpening senses; even as he was thinking, he could tell more or less what happened around and below him with a single glance of his eyes. His eyes darted around to see a salary man talking through his cell-phone with his wife, a mother and her daughter talking about having beef-stew for dinner, even several students from different schools gossiping and talking about small stuff.

While it felt creepy for Issei to be capable of discerning these things, he found his newfound senses to be somewhat cool. This quirk he was having recently could be more useful than he thought. For example, Issei could sense someone was approaching him.

"U-um, excuse me!"

When Issei turned around to address the stranger, his eyes were laid upon an attractive young woman around the same age as him with long black hair down to her hips and violet eyes. Her attire consisted of a short black dress with a small, light purple jacket on top.

 _Oh, yes. The paranoia_ ; Issei actually forgot about that one. Earlier at school, Issei was anxious when he ran into the school's number one beauty, who could be every man's ideal wet dreams. The anxiety when he encountered Rias Gremory was not out of nervousness, but out of cautious, as if the woman could have killed him at the moment's notice.

The young woman before him was giving a similar impression, albeit completely different – at the very least, the vibe Rias gave him earlier did not possess any malice, like dangerous, but not 'evil'. This girl, on the other hand, felt less dangerous, but Issei was more on edge when he looked her in the eye. "…Yes?" for the time being, Issei would do his best to appear amicable as he forced a smile.

"Um… my name is Amano Yuuma. Are you Hyoudou Issei?"

Issei blinked upon the woman – Yuuma's introduction and question. "…Yeah, I am."

Yuuma then flustered slightly. "Well… this might sound out of nowhere, but… I've been looking at you passing this bridge every day… Then, I've found myself keep looking forward to see you passing here around this hour…" she fidgeted for few more seconds before her eyes met his. "I… I came to fall for you! Will you please go out with me?"

Her face was _adorable_ , her flustered expression as she said those words would surely steal any heart of men. However, Issei could not help but feel disgusted. To make his case worse, he did not even know why.

Everything about the woman named Amano Yuuma just screamed something wrong in his head. How could this be possible? A cute girl with a nice pair of jugs just confessed to him and wanted to be his (first) girlfriend. Why did he not like this development?

Issei closed his eyes to rationalise with his mind. Come to think of it, the situation was similar with the one with Rias Gremory. Seriously, a gorgeous woman just threw herself at him and his instinct told him to avoid her?

His instinct or whatever can go fuck off!

After swallowing a lump, and unconsciously squashed the empty can of soda in his hand as he forced himself, Issei managed to let those words out. "Yes, I'd love to!" Issei gave a triumphant smile. _"Ha! There, I said it! Eat a dick, you dreams, nightmares, whatever you are in my head!"_

"That's great!" Yuuma beamed a smile at the reply. "You are a student at Kuoh Academy, right? I'll see you there tomorrow after school!" she then quickly ran off while waving goodbye at Issei.

Issei only waved back while giving a goofy smile at his apparent-girlfriend. After Yuuma had vanished from his sight, Issei pumped up his fist in excitement. He got a girlfriend! Things were finally looking up! There would be no more dreams, nightmares, and visions; just a great date with his girlfriend, and if his luck was at peak, he might be able to score with her! The thought of her boobs was enough to make Issei's blood rushing up to his face.

He composed himself after realizing that he had been standing on the bridge long enough. He then looked at the garbage bin below him at the side-walk. The distance between his spot and the bin was roughly 10-20 meters; out of whim, he kept his eye at the mouth of the bin and and prepare to throw his can of drink.

 _I do not aim with my hand…._

As if in a trance, Issei's eyes did not leave the sight of his target, at that point, he seemed to ignore everything around him.

… _I do not shoot with my hand._

Isse had already swung his arm, releasing the empty can to the air, before he knew it. After soaring in the air for a couple of seconds, the can swiftly made its way inside the bin, much to Issei's amazement. He blinked at the target he just threw his trash into, and he stared at the arm he used to throw earlier. " _What's with those words that flashed in my head earlier?"_

Few seconds later, Issei shrugged and he simply brushed it off as his luck doing the work, then he proceeded to go home.

oXo

It was after school on the next day, and Issei was in good mood. He got himself a girlfriend, a cute one to add; and he was going to introduce (brag) his girlfriend to Motohama and Matsuda.

More over, the dreams he had last night was much less intense than the usual ones he had. There was still the vision about the gunman and incomprehensible words he spoke, but at least there were no disturbing visions about dark tower and monsters whatsoever. The part about the gunman was not that unpleasant to begin with.

By the way, Issei noted that his increased senses were still there, and he just learned that there were more people in his school that gave him similar bad vibes when he encountered Rias Gremory (he did not want to count his girlfriend because she was… well, his girlfriend).

Himejima Akeno, the next most popular girl in the school after Rias Gremory. She was a young woman with buxom figure, very long black hair in a long ponytail that reached her legs, and a pair of violet eyes. When Issei glanced at her, he noted that her boobs were actually even bigger than Rias, albeit by a small margin.

The next person was Toujou Koneko, a first-year student and the so-called school mascot. She was a petite girl with shoulder-length white hair and hazel eyes. She was often seen wearing a black cat-shaped hair clip on both sides of her hair. Much to Issei's disappointment, she was adorable, perfect type for lolicons, but then again, her quiet and stoic disposition made it a bit hard for others to approach her.

 _Seriously, why am I freaking out from good-looking girls?_

Speaking of, the next person was not surprising for him; Kiba Yuuto – the most popular male in academy. With his pretty-boy looks, all girls in the academy were throwing themselves at him, making Issei saw the handsome as the bane for all male existence. Perhaps his instinct was not completely unfounded.

He noticed that the student council group also gave a similar vibe, but perhaps it was just him not like to get involved with figure of authorities.

And here he was, standing next to his girlfriend – Amano Yuuma, right before the gobsmacked Matsuda and Motohama. "So, this is Amano Yuuma, and she just became my girlfriend yesterday." Issei introduced the girl, who bowed lightly.

The two friends only stared wordlessly at Yuuma and Issei, and few seconds later, it was Matsuda who reacted first. "…Heh." His lips and eyes were twitching. "Okay, who is this?"

Amused by the reaction, Issei decided to play along. "This…" he gestured his hand to the girl next to him. "…Is my _girlfriend_ , Amano Yuuma." Issei put an emphasis on the 'g' word.

"Okay…" it was Motohama's turn to reply, the guy took off his sunglasses and massaged the bridge of his nose. "Seriously, Ise. Dude, who the hell is this?"

This time, it was Yuuma who took the initiative. "My name is Amano Yuuma. I just confessed to Ise-kun yesterday and now is his girlfriend. It is nice to meet you." She introduced herself amicably.

It was another few seconds later that Matsuda and Motohama exploded with heavy gasps, and proceeded to throttle Issei.

"WHAT IN THE FUCK, ISE!? WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK!?"

"WE THOUGHT YOU ARE ONE OF US!? WHY, ISE!? WHYYY!?"

As the two bombarded Issei with abuse and questions, the latter saw Yuuma merely chuckled at the antics. Then, his instinct screamed at him again. That woman's smile was so fake, but he could not understand why and how either. However, he dispelled the thought soon enough.

"Okay, okay, that's enough you two!" Issei then brushed his friends away. "There you have it. You guys can go ahead without me, I got a girl to escort for today." Issei then smiled smugly as he took Yuuma away, whom bowed her head one more time at the dumbfounded duo before following her boyfriend.

As the couple walked, Yuuma then spoke up. "You know, Ise-kun. Going home together like this doesn't really count as a real date. So…" Yuuma then glanced her eyes at her boyfriend. "Let's have a real one."

At Yuuma's cute expression, Issei swallowed as he nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, that'd be great!"

"Awesome! Let's meet at the bridge where we met before on this Sunday! See you there!" Yuuma waved him goodbye with a happy smile, then she ran off.

Issei waved at her, then he sighed. _"What the hell was that?"_ For a while, Issei's brain had been sending alarm, as if he had to get away from her in pronto. However – pumping his fist, Issei was more than determined that his paranoia was only in his head; he would make wonderful memories with Yuuma, and everything would go back to normal, perhaps even better with his girlfriend by his side.

"Alright…!" as Issei walked back to his house, he then remembered something. "…Come to think of it, what are we gonna do for the date?"

* * *

It was Sunday, and Issei was eagerly walking towards the meeting venue. As he walked across the shopping district, his senses picked up something – someone was approaching him.

He stopped and turned to see a young woman dressed in a bat costume holding a basket of what it seemed to be a leaflet. The said girl then smiled cordially before she handed one of her leaflets. "Please, take one."

Issei eyed the girl and the piece of paper offered to him. The paper held some kind of insignia written with red ink. He furrowed his eyebrows, as his instinct told him not to accept the paper. Some kind of scam, perhaps? At least the vibe Issei received from the cosplaying girl was not as bad as the ones he had encountered before.

"Thanks, but no thanks." Issei refused politely. "I have to go meet someone." He then hurriedly ran off.

"Please wait!" the girl tried to stop him, but Issei had already run away.

"I'm sorry about this!"

As Issei left the scene, he failed to hear the girl placed his hand over her ear, and she muttered in low voice. "…He refused."

oXo

It had been a great day for Issei. He got himself a date, he finally managed to say, 'It's okay, I just got here myself', when Yuuma apologized for coming late, despite had been waiting for half an hour, and he decided to take the first date to somewhere classic: a theme park.

The couple seemed to enjoy all of the attractions so far. They played various rides, bought and tried various sweets and treats. They then made a stop at a shooting game.

"Come, have a shot! Those who can shoot down all targets will win the prize!" the stall owner advertised as he showed the prizes that ranged from stuffed animals to some toys.

When Issei laid his eyes at the game, he was in trance again. Thankfully, it did not last long as Yuuma snapped him out. "Do you want to try that, Ise-kun?"

Issei blinked between Yuuma and the shooting game, then he nodded. "Uh… Yeah, sure."

They paid for a round, then they took their positions in front of the targets. Issei eyed his gun for a second. It was obviously a toy gun with bb bullets, nothing lethal, but the gun seemed to take after single-bolt rifle from World War I. He shrugged – it was just a toy gun in the end. The targets had been set to automatically move horizontally in a random pace in order to be challenging.

Yuuma took the first turn as she fired her gun clumsily – missing all the targets. "Whew, it's harder than it looks, don't you think so, Ise-kun?" she smiled sheepishly.

 _There it was_ , Issei held back a sigh as he could not understand why the back of his mind kept saying that Yuuma's attitude and behaviour were all fake. _"What the fuck is wrong with me!?"_ it had been a fun date, his girlfriend was a great girl, like hell he would let his paranoia ruined everything!

Feeling agitated, Issei then chose focused on his turn to shoot the target, instead. He placed the rifle against his shoulder, took aim, and in a flash second, those _words_ came to him again.

… _I aim with my eye._

The world went silent from his surroundings, Issei then found the targets were moving considerably slower. He squeezed the trigger.

… _I shoot with my mind._

The bystanders and spectators, stall-owner, and even Yuuma were surprised that Issei easily hit all the targets. Issei was snapped out of his reverie again at the collective sound of 'oh' coming from behind him.

"That was… pretty good!" Yuuma honestly a bit lost for words. Didn't see that one coming.

"Well, err… Yeah." Issei managed to crook a smile. "That's actually not as hard as it looks." He found himself wanting to show off for a bit.

Yuuma's smile turned slightly predatory for a second, before she reloaded her gun with the bullets provided for her. Then, she took aim and shot all the targets down with ease, not unlike Issei did.

Another collective sound of awe elicited from the crowd. However, Issei could not help but find Yuuma's shooting to be… crude, _off_. Then again, he was not a master marksman, thus he would not judge and simply clapped his hands in compliments.

The couple won a medium-sized stuffed animal from the shooting game, and after spending more time together in the theme park, the couple finally on their way back.

As the sun began to set that afternoon, Issei and Yuuma were walking side-by-side, with Yuuma hugging the stuffed animal they won from earlier, while her free hand was holding Issei's own, much to the latter's bliss.

"Say, Ise-kun…" Yuuma said. "Do you mind if we go to one more place? I have something to tell you."

Suddenly, Issei's instinct went haywire, screaming at him to end the date and go home. However, when Issei's eyes saw Yuuma's flustered face, her fidgeting body out of nervousness, and not to mention, her puppy-dog eyes, he easily ignored those warnings.

"Yeah, sure thing." He said with a smile.

Yuuma only smiled happily in return, and soon the couple found themselves at the park with a fountain at the middle of it. If Issei had to be honest, he would say that the entire place was a perfect setting to end the date in wonderful note. He could not help but feel excited, curious of what his girlfriend wanted to say to him. His mind had already imagined several scenarios, like sharing their first kiss, and if luck and love deity were on his side, perhaps they would have their first night together as well. The thought alone was more than enough for Issei to fight the urge to giggle like a creep.

When they approached the fountain, Yuuma moved ahead until she stopped in front of the fountain and turned to face her boyfriend. If anything, Issei had to admit that the sunset in the background only enhanced Yuuma's charm as he spoke.

"You know, Ise-kun…" Yuuma said bashfully. "I wanted to go to this place because I want to ask something from you. Would you mind?"

Issei swallowed another lump as his heart began to race. Could this be the moment? The moment where he took the first step towards adulthood?

"…Of course not. What is it, Yuuma-chan?"

However, at the same time, the alarm on Issei's mind also went even wilder. Then again, the thought of his girlfriend – her boobs, to be precise, made Issei willing to stay and hear her out.

Yuuma smiled a bit wider and she stepped closer towards Issei. Once she was in range, Issei's eyes widened when Yuuma's look became… _cruel_ , the complete opposite of the one she had been wearing during the entire date.

"…Would you die for me?" she said with a smirk.

"Err…" Issei was not sure of what happened. However, his heart was racing even faster, not out of nervousness, but out of fear. "…Sorry, seems I misheard. Care to repeat that?" Issei said as he picked his ear with his finger.

Yuuma only giggled and she stepped back. "I said, would you die for me?"

She dropped her stuffed animal, and she transformed right before Issei's eyes. Her clothes disappeared in a flash of light, leaving her stark-naked for a second before she was layered with black leathery clothes that barely covered her figure – kind of similar to the outfit Issei saw in one of his bdsm porn. Her visage also changed, gone the expression of an innocent teenage girl, Yuuma's appearance was now a reminiscence of an adult woman as her body grew taller.

However, the most defining new trait was a pair of black wings – crow wings. Issei's eyes widened as he remembered those wings from his dreams.

"Y-Yuuma-chan…?" Issei could not believe his eyes. His girlfriend just transformed from an innocent-looking young girl into some… femme fatal with black wings.

"Sorry about keeping quiet about this, Ise-kun." The black-winged creature, 'Yuuma', apologized, but her tone did not sound apologetic at all. "But if it's any consolation, you did surprise me in a good way when we're at that shooting game." she then glanced at her discarded toy prize before returning her gaze at Issei. "I guess you're not as boring as I thought. But nevertheless, that doesn't change that you are a threat to us, so I have to take you out."

When 'Yuuma' conjured what appeared to be a spear made of light, Issei's body tensed.

 _SURVIVE!_

In other circumstances, he might have been frozen in fear and denial, however, when the girl in black pulled her arm back, prepared to throw her spear, Issei had already moved – jumped away and rolled to the side.

"GAH!" Issei cried in pain as the spear of light grazed his leg. It hurt like hell, but the damage was not bad enough to hinder his movements.

 _MOVE!_

Without further ado, Issei quickly made a run towards the trees nearby. 'Yuuma' blinked that her target managed to dodge death, it was something she did not see coming as well.

"Heh, so you are not as dumb as you let out." she remarked. It was not like it would safe him, but running into trees would make it harder for her to spot him. She had to give him that one. 'Yuuma' then looked up; she had deployed a bounded field prior to prevent any interloper, so she had time to finish the job. "Besides… A little more game won't hurt, will it?" she smirked as she licked her lips deviously.

* * *

Issei was breathing heavily as he was sitting against a tree. _"No way, no way, no way, no way, NO FUCKING WAY!"_ he thought repeatedly. What just happened? He was having a great time earlier, then suddenly everything went down to this. What did he do wrong? Why did she want to kill him? Have they met somewhere before and she had been holding a grudge? Why did she deem him as a threat? He was just a normal, hormonal high-school student! What did he do to deserve this kind of treatment!?

Issei then took a deep breath. Currently, his top priority was to escape and shake her off. However, how? The cover provided by the trees would not protect him forever. Now that he thought about it again, how did he come up with his idea of running into trees? Issei expected himself to freeze in fear, or at least just turn tail and let his back exposed.

" _It doesn't matter…"_ Issei took another breath to calm himself. Now that he managed to survive for the time being, he had to come up with something fast.

Then, a tree next to him exploded, revealing the spear that almost killed him earlier before disappearing into mots of light. Issei peeked from his hiding spot, and he saw Yuuma was floating, another spear of light in her hand.

"Oh, Ise-kun? Where might you be~?" the girl asked in a sing-song voice. "Geez, it's rude to bail on a girl when she asked you something important, you know?"

Issei resisted the urge to gag in disgust, but making any sort of noise would only alert her of his position. As he remained in his spot, the black angel proceeded to throw her spears, one after another at random trees.

Issei could only brace himself as the trees around him was destroyed one by one. "Ahahaha~" Yuuma laughed jovially. "Doesn't this remind us of that shooting game earlier? I guess this is the time we settle the score, don't you think?"

Issei gritted his teeth. She took this as a game? However, Issei suddenly found that the black angel was aiming at the tree where he was hiding. Either it was her luck or she found out his location, Issei only had one course of action. However, by that moment, she had already thrown her spear.

Would he die here? Issei thought as time seemed to slow down. As he was facing death, surge of past and memories gushed into his mind. The dreams about the dark tower, and the dreams about the gunman. Would he die just like this? Die without knowing what those dreams were? Dying leaving his mother and father behind? And most importantly, dying without losing his virginity?

" _LIKE HELL I'M GONNA KICK A BUCKET HERE! I WANT TO LIVE!"_

 **[DRAGON BOOSTER!]**

As Issei screamed his wish, his will, he suddenly felt his left hand as if it was on fire. The black angel also noticed the sudden spike of power as Issei's left arm was enveloped by a red light.

 **[Boost!]**

Issei suddenly bolted out from his hiding spot, avoiding being skewered and exploded in the nick of time. At the same time, he noticed his body felt lighter, faster, and stronger. On his left arm, he saw the said limb was covered by a red gauntlet adorned with some yellow spike, and a green jewel was embedded on the back of his hand.

Yuuma narrowed her eyes at the development, as Issei rolled on the ground to soften his fall. "…So your fear of death was able to awaken your Sacred Gear. I guess I've taken this far enough. I know you are a threat since the beginning!"

She then proceeded to bombard Issei with her spears of light, and with his newly enhanced body, Issei began to run, avoiding the black angel's onslaught by hair's breadth.

BOOM!

It was few minutes later of cat and mouse game, and Issei jumped away from another explosion into another tree. At this moment, the trees in the park had been set ablaze, fire was now everywhere around him. Issei breathed and looked around frantically; in the midst of running and dodging, he had lost his sense of direction, and the flames made it difficult for him to know his way out of the park.

"You know, Ise-kun…" Issei then heard Yuuma's voice. He did not need to look to know that the black angel was making her way towards his hiding spot. "I have to say that you put a lot more fight than I expected. This turned out to be kind of fun."

Issei gritted his teeth, and at the corner of his eyes, he spotted the stuffed animal he had given her earlier. Tears began to well up in his eyes as his emotion spiked up. "YUUMA!"

The black angel stopped on her tracks when her ex-boyfriend screamed her name – if it was her real name. "Why!? Why did you have to do this?!"

It might sounded like Issei was desperate, but on his defence, Issei would use whatever he had to prolong his life as much as he could.

"I told you, didn't I?" Yuuma scoffed. "You are a threat to us, and the thing on your left arm is a proof I need."

Issei turned to see the red gauntlet that was covering his left arm. He had no idea of what it was, but the damned thing was the whole reason of his current situation. Yet at the same time, whatever the thing was capable of doing, had allowed him to survive this far.

"But still!" Clenching his hands into fists, Issei then spoke again. "Why would you bother to approach me like that!? You could've just taken me out without deliberately getting close to me!"

"It's just a part of investigation." Yuuma simply replied, folding her arms under her sizeable breasts. "…And it's kind of fun to see you trying your hardest to impress me. I actually don't know if I felt pitiful or amused by your actions."

"Then… all of those time… That meant nothing…?" Issei's voice began to tremble.

"Please, you only realized now?" Yuuma mocked in return. "Think about it; do you really think that a girl could possibly fall for you just by watching you? That's just a wishful thinking, considering _if_ there's any girl that could come to like a loser like you. I thought you know better than this, Ise-kun."

Tears finally rolled down on his cheek, as Issei clenched his fists even tighter. It was too late for him to wish that everything had been just a nasty dream. "So, that's it…?" he thought with gritted teeth. "She got close to me, so she could revel in my misery?"

Issei's lips then twitched into self-depreciating smile. "…I guess I had it coming. There's no way a pervert like me can get a girl like her…" Then his anger returned. Even if he acknowledged that he somewhat deserved what had come for him, he could not accept Yuuma trampling on his feelings. After all, he did truly like her.

 **[Boost!]**

At the same time as the voice came out from the gauntlet, Issei felt a pulse running through his body.

"Enough is enough." Yuuma then prepared another spear, intending to launch a finishing blow. "I don't have all night here, after all."

Time became painfully slow around him. As if in clarity, Issei suddenly saw images in his mind – again.

It was a part of his dreams, a dream where he was spending time with a man wielding a gun. The man fired, and all his rounds hit his targets. When the gunman turned to him, he bowed down so his eyes were on the same level as Issei, and the latter felt the former's strong, yet soft hand caressing his hair…

 _Like a father would do to his son._

The gunman's face became a bit clearer as seconds passed, as well as the man's words to him. He finally realized the face of the gunman.

 _It was my father all along._

Issei clenched his jaw, as his mind became clearer, his heart-beat became slower and calmer, as he remembered every word that his father wanted to say to him; the things that his father told him to never forget.

 _I do not aim with my hand._

Issei entered another trance, and as Yuuma raised her spear in ready, he recited his father's words. "…He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye."

Issei then peeked out from his hiding spot, his eyes honing at his ex-girlfriend. The black angel thought that the victory was hers; that was something Issei could exploit.

 _I do not shoot with my hand._

 **[EXPLOSION!]**

Issei suddenly felt a sudden surge of power from inside him. The power then flowed and concentrated in his left hand. The surge of power also caught Yuuma off-guard, as she froze for a second, before she snarled and became more determined to finish Issei once and for all.

Nevertheless, Issei became more focused as he continued his reciting.

"…He who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind."

As the black angel hurled her spear at the target, Issei had moved. Jumping out from behind the tree, Issei unexpectedly ran towards the direction of Yuuma, he ran and bent his body backward, allowing his body to fall and skid on the ground, barely enough to avoid the spear from impaling him. The woman was caught off-guard with her target's sudden burst of agility, and much to her dread, she sensed power was concentrated at his left hand.

 _I do not kill with my gun._

"…He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father."

As he recalling his father's words, Issei pointed his left hand at his target; the said target widened her eyes in horror, as she wanted to fly away. Alas, it was too late for her, as Issei's assault had close the distance far too close for Yuuma's favour.

The last thing that Yuuma remembered was Issei screaming some words as the light on his left palm got brighter towards her. That moment, she knew that she had heard those words somewhere, as her vision went white.

 _I KILL WITH MY HEART._

* * *

 **Whew, I've done it now! Truthfully speaking, I just happened to watch the Dark Tower movie, got attracted by the concept, did a bit research about the story, then I came up with this story. On that note, I have yet to read the books.**

 **Thus, I cannot say anything for certain if I can carry on with this story, due to reasons: my life, my One-Punch DxD, and my understanding of Dark Tower series.**

 **Overall, what do you guys think? Put your thoughts in the review, and no flames! Constructive reviews are accepted. Ahsoei, over and out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Gunslinger DxD**

* * *

 **Hello, my dear readers! It took almost forever but I managed to finish the next update of this crossover!**

 **Many reviewers of the previous chapter (thank you, btw) wanted to see some... twist that diverge more from original canon. I don't know if this one will do justice, so R &R for now!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Issei was walking unsteadily across his neighbourhood - extremely exhausted both physically and mentally.

He pondered to himself of how things ended up so terribly. He had this… stupid visions and dreams in his head about guns, dark tower, and monsters; and they made him paranoid as of late, especially around gorgeous girls.

Speaking of girls, as if to rub salt on his wounds, his first girlfriend turned out to be a… fallen angel (he still could not wrap his mind about that piece of information), had been lying to him about her feelings to him, and wanted to litter his body with glowing spears; and while fighting for his life, he could have sworn that he had some kind of episodes involving flashbacks, and his left arm felt like on fire - albeit it no longer hurting; not to mention, he recalled that he had also used some kind of red gauntlet that granted him super-powers.

...Which led to one final, disturbing fact - he most likely had murdered someone by the end of the night.

He did not fully remember what happened. He only recalled that he had another flashbacks about his (apparently) father, those words that sounded like a…. Creed, his body was brimming with power from the red gauntlet, and the rest was a blur. He remembered seeing some remains of black feathers before he decided to leave the ruined park behind. On that note, he had tried to manifest the same red gauntlet on his arm again, but to no avail.

He felt like a bile had caught up on his throat, his stomach was churning, yet he was too tired to even to puke. His leg, which was grazed during the beginning of the fight with… Yuuma (if that was her real name to begin with), was hurting like hell - leaving a small trail of blood, making it even harder for him to keep walking, as he leaned on a wall for support.

His body finally could not take the strain as his vision became fuzzy. After all, his injured leg had been bleeding for sometime. Issei did not bother to find out how bad his leg was, as he saw the ground coming to him so fast.

As soon as Issei laid face-down on the ground, it took few minutes later until someone found him. The person looked at his prone form, and _she_ did a quick check on him.

After confirming the state of the boy, the person hummed and nodded to herself as she took out a small vial from the pocket of her skirt. She opened the vial, and poured one drop of its contents on Issei's person - his injured leg in particular. As soon as the liquid touched his body, the gash on his leg was healed immediately, leaving only the tear on his pants.

Satisfied with her handiwork, she smiled as she pondered her next action. She could just leave him be, but at the same time, leaving him defenceless in the night time like this left a bad taste in her mouth. Sighing softly, she finally decided to pick him up and hefted him on her shoulder without much difficulty, despite the difference in size, and she proceeded to be on her way.

oXo

Rias Gremory - the heiress of the Noble House of Gremory of 72 Pillars in Underworld, along with her Queen - Akeno Himejima, just arrived at a certain park in the town where they lived.

It began when she received the information from her familiar, where her potential new member for her peerage - Issei Hyoudou, had refused her contract-summoning flyer. In other situation, she would have brushed it off as another potential client refusing her invitation of offer; however, considering her suspicion about Issei's possession of a Sacred Gear, combined with Koneko's last information about a fallen angel deliberately made contact with him, Rias could not shake off the bad feeling concerning her potential new servant. If a fallen made contact with Issei Hyoudou, even as far as acting as his girlfriend to keep close contact, it likely meant that Issei possessed something powerful.

To begin with; devils and fallen angels, as well as the angels themselves had been on a cold war – uneasy cease-fire ever since the Great War two thousand years ago. At the moment, Kuoh had been assigned under her care, as well as Sona Sitri's, and the sighting of 'Yuuma Amano' was enough to question the fallen angel's intentions regarding the cease-fire. However, as far as her knowledge, the fallen had yet to start any hostility nor activity that would disturb the lives of her peers and other citizens in the town, not to mention, reports stated that the fallen had stationed themselves at the abandoned church at the outskirts of the town, leaving them on a grey area as far as territory-trespassing was concerned. In other words, Rias and Sona could not take any definitive action unless they wanted to spark another Great War by attacking the fallen angels.

What really set her alarm off was when she assigned her familiar to monitor the date between Issei and a fallen - 'Yuuma Amano', she received an update that her familiar lost them and a bounded field had been erected at the park where the familiar last spotted them.

 _What does that fallen angel want to do with Issei Hyoudou that she needed to isolate the park with bounded field?_

That was the key question that compelled Rias to bring Akeno along to take the matter into her own hands.

When they finally arrived at the park, and when Rias was about to use her own power to dispel the barrier surrounding the location, the barrier suddenly collapsed. She and her Queen blinked at the sudden development, glancing at each other in slight confusion. Usually, when something like a bounded field had collapsed, it could only be one of two possibilities: either the caster willed it, or the caster died. Either way, Rias did not waste anymore time as she quickly made her way towards the location where there was a smoke rising up to the air, with Akeno behind her.

They finally made it to the section of the park, where the trees were destroyed and burning. The two devils looked around, only to see no signs of life.

Rias then looked back to her Queen. "...Akeno."

That simple word of her name was enough to convey her orders. The girl with long black hair tied up in ponytail with orange ribbon, then sprout out a pair of bat wings from her back and took off to the sky. She had been tasked to secure the perimeter. As she flew in the sky, she casted her spell, conjuring a large magic circle that poured a steady droplets of water like a rain, extinguishing the fire on the area.

While her Queen was doing her job, Rias took upon herself to get a closer look at the scene. Few minutes of exploration later, Rias found what it seemed to be…. Remains of _something_ , or perhaps someone, with a mass of black feathers littered around.

She kneeled to picked up one feather, examining it closely. She looked around, and she deduced that it was safe to assume that whoever owned this feathers was at least heavily injured, if not dead. However, there was another thing she realized after her observation.

There was no sign of Issei Hyoudou anywhere.

"Akeno, did you find anything?" she contacted her Queen telepathically.

"...No, I'm afraid not, buchou." Akeno's voice resounded in her ears. "At least we don't have any eye-witness to deal with."

Rias nodded as she took in her Queen's feedback. She looked around again, was it possible that Issei Hyoudou also actually one of the casualties, but his body was somewhere else? That thought warranted her more thorough exploration. "Akeno, make sure to set up another bounded field. I need a bit more time to make heads and tails of what happened here." she commanded her Queen, who replied a second later.

"Understood, buchou."

* * *

Issei found himself dreaming about guns, dark tower and monsters again that night. After his… 'excursion' from earlier, he honestly was not fazed anymore as he simply watched the sceneries that he had seen over and over for the past years.

However, his attention was more focused when he saw his younger self practicing to hold a gun with his father. In the process, he would always listen closely to the words that his father spoke to him.

 _I do not aim with my hand. He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father._

"...I aim with my eye."

Issei found himself finishing the first line of the creed. Although, he was still wondering, like he forgot something what, or to be precise, whose creed he was reciting.

 _I do not shoot with my hand._

"...He who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind."

Nevertheless, Issei kept reciting as the final line was spoken, the same time as the visage of his younger-self pointed the gun, and fired.

"I do not kill with my gun. He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I kill with my heart…"

 **[Well, well, what do we have here? I never thought this day would come…]**

Suddenly, Issei's eyes snapped wide open as the whole scenery was engulfed in bright, brilliant flames. His vision became too bright for him to keep his eyes open as the flame itself engulfed his person.

As Issei slowly left his dream in flames, the owner of the mysterious voice kept echoed across the void.

 **[I guess it's still too soon for me to make contact with you…. Oh, well. Take it easy for now, after all, the first times are always the hardest phase for everyone.]**

Issei could not make out the sight of the voice's owner, and he could barely make out the words. Nevertheless, the voice continued.

 **[Such a peculiar host…. Reminding me of stories of old… What's the line again? Oh, yes...]**

Despite the blurs and haziness, Issei somehow could make out the last line that the voice was saying, right before he finally lost a hold of the dream.

 **['The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed….' Kukuku… Looking forward to have a proper talk with you, partner.]**

oXo

Issei's eyes snapped open in the real world, looking at the dark, familiar ceiling of his bedroom as the first sight that welcomed him. He took a deep breath, finding himself laid on his own bed.

He got up, wondering how he got back to his house, to his room to boot. The last thing he recalled that he collapsed on the street on his way home. When he felt a weight around his legs, he noticed at the edge of the bed, his mother was sleeping, kneeling on the floor - her head was resting on her hands on top of the bed.

His expression softened at the sight of his mother. It appeared that his mother had been sleeping by his side for… how long had he been sleeping again? Judging from the night sky outside the window, it was at least around midnight.

Speaking of sleeping, though… Issei recalled bits and pieces of his dream from earlier, particularly one word that resonated in his soul.

"...Gunslinger."

His voice was barely above whisper, but it was enough to wake his mother up from her slumber. As soon as her eyes met her son's, the mother quickly rose up from her sleeping position and pulled his son into a hug.

"Oh, Ise…" she said as she lovingly kissed the crown of Issei's hair. "...I've been so worried!"

Issei found himself relaxing against the warmth of his mother's embrace. "I found you coming home unconscious, covered in soot and with a tear on your trousers! What happened? I thought you're on a date with your girlfriend?" she asked as she broke the hug.

Issei only let out a deep sigh, as he leaned forward to rest his head on his mother's bosom. "I… I'm sorry, mom…" Issei said as his mind was still exhausted from everything that had happened. He initially thought and hoped that what happened to him was merely one nasty nightmare, but what his mother told him earlier had testified that every single thing was real.

"Things… didn't work out, and… so many stuff just happened." he could bring himself to tell the truth to his mother - of how he was almost killed by his ex-girlfriend, how he ended up gaining some kind of powers and ended up killing that said ex-girlfriend.

Fortunately, his mother took it well enough, as she dropped the issue. "Oh, sweetie…" she said as she embraced her son's head. "It's okay, you must have been exhausted… Just rest up for now."

The mother and son spent few minutes in each other's warmth, until Issei was the one to break off the contact this time. "Come to think of it, mom… How did I make it home?"

"Oh, yes. About that…" his mother's expression brightened up somewhat. "Are you sure that things didn't work out? Because I'm pretty sure that your girlfriend herself actually got you here."

Issei blinked once, then twice. "...Huh?"

"Good grief, Ise…" his mother spoke again. "I don't know what happened, or what's going on, but you never actually told me that you're dating an older girl, a blonde foreigner to add! And… Oh dear, everything happened so fast that I forgot to ask her name!" her tone sounded teasing.

Issei's brain froze and reboot for a second. _Blonde foreigner? Older girl?_

One, Yuuma was definitely had an appearance of oriental descent with black hair and all, and two, her appearance, at least her 'human' appearance was around his age. He himself had no idea of what was going on.

Seeing her son's incredulous expression, Issei's mother decided to drop the topic. "Well, it's getting late, so I'll get off your hair." she said with teasing smile. "Sleep tight, and if you need anything, you know where to find me. Okay?"

"Err… Okay." Issei nodded dumbly, still clueless of what just happened regarding his mother's testimony. He did not even react as his mother gave a quick peck on his forehead.

"And be sure to talk with your girlfriend tomorrow. If she still bothered to send you home like this, you might still have a chance to patch things up with her. Good night!" his mother finally closed the door, leaving him alone in his room.

Issei settled himself back to his bed few minutes later, his mind still could not make any sense of the past events. Someone just brought him back to his house. Now that he only remembered by now, he realised that the injury on his leg had been healed. His mother mentioned that there was a tear on his trousers. _What in the actual fuck was going on?!_

Not able to take the situation anymore, Issei grumbled as he threw his blanket over his head, forcing himself to sleep his frustration away. He would definitely search for answers tomorrow, but for now, he just wanted to forget everything and went back to blissful sleep.

Unfortunately for him, whether he liked it or not, not long after he fell asleep, Issei would dream of guns, dark tower and monsters - this time without any fiery interruption, until he woke up in the next morning.

* * *

Issei was preparing himself to go to school, as he tucked his feet into his shoes at the front door.

"...Are you sure you are up to go to school, Ise?" his mother called behind him. "I'm having a second thought here. Considering what you've been through last night." she said with concerned tone.

"Yeah. I'll be fine, mom." Issei said as he flashed a smile. "...I'm leaving!" he said as he went out of the door.

Truth to be told, Issei was not exactly in mood for school. After all, aside from the whole debacle with Yuuma, he still did not fully understand about his mysterious saviour, not to mention the strange figures in flames in his dreams.

Heaving a deep sigh, he continued his trek towards the school, nonetheless.

"What the hell is going on…?" Issei muttered as he ran his hand through his brown locks as he yawned. He needed to get more sleep one of these days.

Over half-way towards school, Issei ran to his two friends - Matsuda and Motohama.

"Morning, Ise!"

"What's up?"

"Hn…" Issei merely hummed in return, as Matsuda and Motohama walked by his sides.

"Whoa, Ise. What's wrong, man? You kind of look like shit." Matsuda asked.

"Well… I don't think 'shit' can even begin to describe…" Issei merely replied.

The two friends stared at Issei for a minute, figuring out what was wrong, until their eyes widened in realisation. They shared a glance at each other - a split-second decision was then made between the two of how to approach the issue.

"Ise…" Motohama took the initiative to make the first approach. "...Is this about that girl… Yuuma-chan?"

Issei felt a pang of pain as he remembered that night all over again. Come to think of it, it could be considered a miracle that Issei could still go out to school after one night. The boy only sighed as he nodded.

Matsuda and Motohama paused as their gazes softened somewhat. Their minds made conclusions that… actually were not far off from the truth that Issei hid from them. All in all, the two decided not to push the issue any further as they kept themselves quiet. Motohama put a comforting hand on Issei's shoulder.

"Um… Okay, then." Motohama patted Issei's shoulder. "...It's alright. It happens to everyone, y'know… having breaking-up once or twice in their lives."

"Err… Yeah!" Matsuda also quipped in, although he felt himself awkward in choosing the words. "Besides, y'know. There are… plenty more fishes in the sea! Yeah, there are still a lot of better girls out there for you to date with!"

Issei wanted to snort at them. However, while his friends actually meant well, his tired mind simply made him to smile lightly and nodded in appreciation. The trio then continued their trek towards school with Matsuda and Motohama trying to start up a conversation to light up the mood, and they did not push it too far when Issei only gave minimum responses.

However, as they approached the school grounds, suddenly an… unfamiliar person suddenly walked past them. She was a young beautiful woman with a long, blonde-hair flowing on her back. While some might thought she dyed her hair, Issei and the boys immediately realized that the girl was from European descent from her blue-coloured eyes, possibly caucasian.

The thing was, the particular individual gave them a noticeable smile, followed by a quick wink, before she quickly skipped away, leaving the dumbfounded perverted trio.

In Issei's case in particular, perhaps it was his exhaustion playing his mind, but he could have sworn that the woman's wink was aimed at _him_.

"...Whoa." Matsuda was the first to react with stupefied expression. "…You see that babe?"

"Tell me about it…." Motohama followed suit, as his reaction was no different than Matsuda's as he fixed his glasses. "…I never recalled having her around. Is she a student at Kuoh Academy? Her uniform looked different…"

"A college student, probably?"

"…Probably. But I could've sworn I never see her around…." Motohama pondered for a bit before he turned to one more person in the group. "…Ise? What do you think?"

"She's… hot, alright." Issei managed to give that as he nodded approvingly. Truthfully, when his eyes landed on the blonde older girl, he received… some vibes not much different than the ones he got from several 'off' individuals from the other day.

However, there was one distinct difference.

Unlike Rias Gremory and her Occult Research Club, Sona Shitori and her Student Council, as well as Yuuma, the feeling he got from the new girl was… somewhat more 'friendly', or to be more precise, less scary. Sure, the whole thing about the blonde girl was still so very off to him, but compared to those he had encountered, this one was kind of more welcoming.

Overall, Issei sighed as he somewhat knew that freaky things would most likely still come to his way.

 _Welp, fuck it. There's no going back now. Might as well just get this day over and done with._

With slightly heavier steps, Issei finished his trek towards his class with Matsuda and Motohama.

oXo

The bell rang as lunch time had arrived, and students began to fill out the room to enjoy their break. Issei let out a heavy sigh as he finally had some time to relax.

And when he said 'relax', Issei wanted to spend some time alone as he made excuse to refuse Matsuda and Motohama's invitation to have lunch at the usual spot; he considered himself kind of lucky when he found the rooftop happened to be vacant, with wide space and clear blue sky around him, it was a perfect spot for him to unwind.

Quickly finishing his lunch so he could spend more time lazing around and sorting out his thoughts, Issei was now lying on the empty space of the rooftop, nonchalantly gazing at the sky. Now that he looked at it, he found that the view of the sky was… actually quite magnificent from this angle.

While occasionally counting the clouds, his thought went back to review what had happened to him so far. First of all, there was this dream and visions about guns, dark tower, monsters, and strangely enough, his father.

Following that, he had been experiencing some increase of... his five senses. He could see and hear something further than average person could perceive in general, and perhaps he also had developed some kind of sixth sense, as he had found that several high-end individuals from his school, the two great ladies, the damn handsome, school mascot, and the student councils had been giving him some sort of bad signals that kept warranting him to stay away from them, albeit they did not pull anything funny on him so far, at least not yet.

Then, when his friend showed him the model gun; apparently, Issei had the knack around firearms, as he could play around a revolver as if he was some cowboy from wild west movie. It was kind of cool, he admitted, but it also freaked him out.

On top of them all, there was Yuuma Amano. Issei knew that it was already strange enough for a gorgeous girl like her to suddenly pop out of nowhere and asked him out for a date, just because she simply fell for him from simple _observation_. That kind of thing only happened in sappy romance novels, Issei had thought that much, but his own insecurities regarding his dreams and visions had made him falling to her _trap_.

What he thought as the best day of his life turned out into a nightmarish battle of his life, as he tried his darnest not to be littered in holes and punctures by some kind of… _spear of light_. Then again, as the fight went on, Issei did notice that… it was his visions that saved him. He was not sure what got into him, but what his mind had compelled him to do had indeed allowed him to live and see another day.

He remembered the steps that he had to take when he was avoiding Yuuma's attacks, factors and elements on the battlefield that needed to be considered, as well as the split-second decision that he had to make.

On top of them, whatever _power_ that he suddenly drew out on his left arm, followed with the line- _creed_ of his dream. By the time he knew it, he had managed to escape with his life, without knowing what happened to his ex-girlfriend in the end.

Overall, Issei was still pretty much clueless of what had transpired so far.

However, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone had opened the door access to the rooftop, with the sound of the footsteps and all. When he craned his head to find someone was approaching him, he blinked when his eyes landed on a blonde girl – the same upper-classman that ran to him this morning on his way to school.

"Ah, there you are." The girl said with a friendly tone. "I've been wanting to talk to you alone later, but never thought that I'll be able to talk to you this soon." She said with sheepish smile, a smile that Issei actually deemed as _cute_.

"Um… Who are you?" Naturally, that was the first line that Issei could only come up with.

The mystery woman blinked for a couple of times before she gave a sheepish chuckle. "…Well, I guess it's fair. You were unconscious during our first encounter, after all." She said as she rubbed the back of her neck.

Issei blinked again, his mind began to work to make sense of things that he had seen and heard from the woman. It took few minutes and some waiting from the woman until Issei's eyes widened in realization.

"You are…. The one who brought me home last night…"

"Yep, that's me. And you're welcome, by the way." the woman nodded with a proud smile. "Though… it took kind of sooner than I expected for you to realize. You are a bit sharper than you let on." She said with thoughtful look.

Issei snorted at the remark. "Well, yeah. Weirder things have been happening to me lately…" then, he stood up and took few steps back in precaution. "Though…. Seriously, who are you? What do you want from me?"

The woman raised her hands up in peace. "Whoa, I already said 'you are welcome', but still! Can you say 'thank you', at least?" she finished with a small pout.

"To be fair, I've been surrounded by dangerous women, especially the pretty ones. So I'm sorry if I'm feeling pensive right now." Issei replied as his mind was indeed going anxious and nervous.

"Alright, alright. Calm down…. First of all, I'm not going to hurt you." The woman placated. "I'm Jeanne, and I did save you from trouble last night, remember?"

Issei's expression kind of froze for a second to ponder over the woman – Jeanne's words, then his body visibly relaxed. "Point taken. But still, you haven't really answered my latter question."

"Basically, I want to help you." Jeanne quickly got to the point. "But let's talk more later. The lunch break is almost over and…" she turned around to see that there was a new-comer. "…We can use some privacy, can't we?" she finished with a small smile, her tone sounded somewhat 'neutral'.

Issei looked over Jeanne to only realise that the student council president - Souna Shitori was standing not far from them. The young woman was sporting her usual stern posture and expression that demanded no joke.

"What are you two doing here? The lunch period is almost over." Souna said with even tone, her violet eyes honing at the two students.

"Same goes for you, don't you think?" Jeanne said as she flashed another smile. "Besides, I'm the older one here, right? Shouldn't you speak with more polite tone to your seniors?"

"Seniors or juniors, it's still my duty as the student council president to uphold the rules of this academy." Souna fixed her glasses. "The rooftop might be not off-limits around this hour, but this place is students' favourite spot to do some unlawful acts sometimes."

"Alright, alright, we'll be going." Jeanne chose to back off and she turned to Issei once again. "I'll see you again, Ise-kun!" she waved and she ran off past Souna, after giving her a quick nod.

Issei could only remain silent at how things just developed. Now that he thought about it, the woman - Jeanne implied as if they would meet again. Shaking the thought off his head, Issei immediately followed suit as he gave a slight bow before carefully walked past the student council president in a little hurry.

As she watched the two students ran along, Souna narrowed her eyes slightly.

* * *

In the end, Issei did not run into Jeanne for the rest of the school period. After refusing Matsuda and Motohama's invitation to hang out, Issei was currently walking alone towards home.

He was still rather out of it; perhaps he should have stayed at home and taking a sick-leave from school for the day. Releasing a heavy sigh, Issei simply let his legs led him wherever as long as he could make it home by dinner.

When he looked up, he found himself walking through the park where he had the deathmatch with Yuuma from the other night, and he had walked quite far deep enough. Grimacing at the bad memory, Issei considered to go back and take another route when he realised that something was off.

It was as if someone was watching him - no, someone was indeed watching him. He looked around, and found that there was nobody else but himself in the vicinity. His instinct began to go off in alarm, telling him to quickly scram and get the fuck out of that place ASAP. Now that he thought about it again, this whole situation was Yuuma Amano all over again.

While Issei wanted to curse his rotten luck, he had to move. He quickly turned his heels towards the direction of the park's nearest exit. However, he had to stop after only taking a few steps.

"...Fuck!"

This time, he had to curse his luck as he was looking at a floating man not too far away from him. It was a middle-aged looking man with short black hair and dark blue eyes. His attire consisted of a pale grey trench coat over a white dress-shirt with matching ascot, black pants and shoes, a pair of black gloves, and a black fedora. However, the most defining trait that caught Issei's eyes in horror was a pair of black crow wings that was sprouting from his back, just like Yuuma.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" the winged man greeted mockingly as he looked down from his position in the air. "Forgive me for the intrusion of your evening, but I'm looking for a colleague of mine whom has been missing since yesterday. Perhaps you know her as… _Yuuma Amano_?"

Issei swallowed a lump when he heard the name. The man was someone… _something_ like Yuuma if his pair of black wings were any indication.

However, Issei's silence, along with his horrified expression were enough answer for the man in suit. "I will take that silence as yes. I do recall you as the target that Raynare had to deal with, yet words came to us that she was nowhere to be found and the devils in charge of this territory were sniffing around her remains. Now, tell me…" the man then conjured a blue spear of light, ready to hurl it at Issei at given notice.

"What do you know? What happened to Yuuma Amano? Or perhaps, are you the one who killed her?" the man's eyes meant business as he asked those questions.

 _Oh, shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit!_

Issei's mind went haywire as he knew that a fight was most likely inevitable. He then remembered the red gauntlet that appeared during his confrontation with Yuuma, and he began to ball his left fist, wishing for the mysterious gauntlet to appear again.

" _Come on… Come on…!"_

Alas, as much as he thought about it, even as far as he shook his left arm to cause some reaction, nothing happened. Sweat began pouring down on his head, as his mind was filled with fear.

"I…. I don't know what you're talking about!" Issei attempted to play dumb as he took a step back.

However, it appeared that the attempt was done rather poorly, as the mystery man's eyes narrowed in distrust.

"Hmm…. So you do know something…" the man in the sky clearly did not buy what Issei said. "Very well, then. I simply have to force it out from you." without any warning, he then threw his spear of light towards Issei.

Issei immediately jumped away, at least his body still remembered from his last bout with Yuuma. However, he still could not move fast enough - probably even slower, as the spear pierced through his lap.

"ARGH!"

Issei screamed at the agonizing pain shooting through his leg. He tripped over the bleeding limb, and he turned around on the ground to see the flying man already prepared to throw another spear.

 _NO!_

As soon as the spear left the man's hand, something within Issei snapped again. All of sudden, he found the spear was flying towards him with noticeably slower speed. Hell, he even could see the spear's trajectory was aimed to his shoulder. The man was deliberately avoiding his vital spot; that could mean he was aiming to maim and torture, not to kill.

At the very same moment, he felt a familiar heat on his left arm, the same left arm that he quickly raised out of instinct in order to block the incoming projectile.

CLASH!

The mystery man's eyes widened when he saw his target was able to deflect his spear. But what caught his attention the most was the fact the boy manifested a red gauntlet with a large green jewel.

"That's…!" the man said in recognition. "...I see… It appears my priority has changed." his face then hardened. "...You must die here."

 **[Boost!]**

That voice was heard as soon as the man had said that he would kill him, and Issei mustered his new-found strength to return to his feet. Still, his leg was bleeding bad, and hurting like hell. It was hard already as it was to simply stand up.

Nevertheless, Issei refused to kick the bucket there. If he could survive against something like Yuuma, then what was stopping him to survive from his current enemy?

However, just when each fighter was about to make their move, something else happened. The flying figure suddenly turned around, just in time to deflect several projectiles thrown at him with his spear of light.

The deflected projectiles landed on the ground, and Issei managed to see that the projectiles were _swords_.

"Who…!?" before the flying figure could have finished his sentence, something - rather, someone suddenly dived at him, sending multiple strikes in the process.

The winged-man growled in pain when he failed to defend himself completely, allowing the assailant to land several slashes on his limbs and wings. With his extra appendage damaged, the man in suit had no choice but to fall down.

Issei watched as the mysterious assailant seemed to be on his side, as she (apparently) landed in front of him. From behind the mystery girl, Issei could only make out a familiar, long blonde hair and a set of light armours.

"Are you okay, Ise-kun?" the woman from the school - Jeanne turned her head to flash another smile at him. "...I can call you Ise, right?" her smile then turned sheepish somewhat.

"Ah, err… Yeah, I'm good." Issei was too caught up in the moment that he failed to answer properly.

Jeanne nodded before she returned her attention at the man she just attacked earlier. The said man was returning on his feet, albeit the wounds on his body clearly showed that he was no longer in tip-top condition.

"...Who are you?" the main seethed as he clutched one of his deeper wounds to stop the bleeding.

"A hero." Jeanne merely replied with confident expression. "...I mean, I can't just let you attacking some civilians, especially if the said civilians is the person of my interest, can I?"

The man only narrowed his eyes analytically at the young woman who pointed her rapier at him. "A Sacred Gear user, I see…." he stated, then he gave a quick inspection on his smoking wounds. "And the one with holy attribute…"

The man regarded the two youngsters before him and he understood that the odds were against him. Two Sacred Gear users, while one of them was still inexperienced, the fact that he had awakened his Gear did not help his case much. Not to mention, the surprise attack from earlier did a number on him.

Still, he still had his duties, his orders.

Then again, before he could have decided on a course of action, another presence let itself known.

"That's enough."

Heads - including Issei's - turned around, only for the boy to see two persons that he did not expect to see, came out from what appeared to be a man-sized, red magic circle flashing in the dark night.

The people who appeared from thin air were a beautiful young woman with crimson locks and the other was an equally beautiful woman with long black hair in ponytail - Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima.

Dohnaseek was the first to react upon the new arrival. "That sigil….. I see, the devils from House of Gremory?"

While Issei's mind still in the middle of comprehending the appearance of the most popular ladies from his school, another bomb was dropped on top of his mind when he could have sworn that he heard the 'd' word from his assailant.

"That would be correct, Mr. Fallen Angel." Rias Gremory nodded while sporting a confident smile. "As much as I'd like to say that it is a pleasure to meet you, I have to ask you to leave the boy…" she glanced at Jeanne before she considered her next words. "... And the girl alone, since he is a valuable potential contractor, and I have some important matters to discuss with her." she pointed at Issei and Jeanne respectively.

Meanwhile, Akeno simply stood beside Rias with serene smile on her face. However, Issei could vaguely tell that her calm posture was merely a front.

The fallen angel - Dohnaseek, visibly grimaced, although he managed to keep his calm. Few seconds later, he dispersed his spear of light as he relaxed his posture. "...I guess I am in no position to refuse. I shall withdraw for the night, then." The fallen was now sure that he was completely outnumbered and possibly outgunned. He gave a mock bow and one last sentence. "...One more thing, do keep an eye on your servants, as well as your person of interests properly next time. I bid you farewell."

And with that, the fallen angel finally flew off, disappearing from sight.

 **[Reset!]**

It was few seconds later that Issei finally sighed in relief as his red gauntlet vanished from his hand. At the same time, his new-found power from earlier suddenly left him as well, making him collapsed to the ground. "Hey, are you okay?" when Issei looked up, Jeanne was tending to him, asking him with concerned tone.

"Yeah…. Yeah, I'm alright." Issei managed to reply. However, he realised that it was a bit too soon to relax as he just remembered that there were two more persons he needed to keep a lookout.

Rias and Akeno were also approaching him, but when they noticed Issei and Jeanne tensed and looking back at them, they decided to keep their distance. "Calm down, you two…. We mean you no harm."

The four fell into silence, as Jeanne and Issei did not take their eyes away from Rias and Akeno. It was another few seconds later when Jeanne finally deemed that the two women in front of her were true on their words, and she nodded at Issei in assurance, allowing the latter to relax slightly.

However, by all means that Jeanne and Issei still kept their guard up.

"Well… Now that I think about it, perhaps it will be better if we don't talk here." Rias sighed. "I believe you two, especially Hyoudou-kun over there..." she glanced at Issei. "...Have a lot of questions need to be answered?"

"Err… Yeah… Yeah, please…" Issei nodded hesitantly. However, he suddenly felt very light-headed, and his vision getting blurry. He felt that he could not stay awake, accompanied by the pain on his leg…

Issei then recalled that he was still bleeding, and now the blood was pooling beneath him. "Oh, shit..." he finally collapsed and everything gradually went black.

"Ise-kun!"

The last thing he recalled before everything faded away was the frantic noises from Jeanne and the other girls around him.

* * *

Issei woke up in the next morning and found himself back in his bedroom again. He looked over himself and noticed that he had been laid down on his bed with his uniform on.

As much as he wanted to think that the whole fiasco last night was simply another nasty nightmare, Issei could not unsee the fact that his pants - particularly his pant-leg, had a hole on it. There was no wound anymore, but the tear on his pants was enough, complete with his intuition, that he was definitely not dreaming about last night.

However, Issei felt something else was off, as he lightly massaged his head; he could have sworn that he had lost quite amount of blood from the previous hole on his leg, yet he only felt a slight headache that would not hinder his daily life.

Issei finally dismissed as another magical thing that just saved his skin.

"You know, you've been running into trouble as of late." Issei heard a voice and he turned to see his mother was standing by his door.

"Err… G'morning, mom." Issei greeted while awkwardly rubbing his head.

"Good morning." the mother spoke while sporting a small smile.

Issei glanced around before he scratched his cheek, unsure of what to say. "Um…"

"What happened last night? How did you get home this time?" his mother interrupted with rhetoric, as if she knew what her son wanted to ask.

When Issei nodded bashfully, her smiles widened a bit. "Well, your girlfriend brought you here… Again. Seriously, I'm glad that your girlfriend cares about you, but have a bit pride as a man, will you? You can't just have a cute girl like Jeanne-chan to carry you all the time!" she chided.

Issei blinked at the name. _So she actually introduced herself this time around?_

The mother then sighed before she left. "Anyway, go change your uniform. I've prepared you a new, clean one. You still have a school, after all."

After he saw his mother closed the door and left the room, Issei groaned into his hands. _Shits are just getting weirder and weirder._

It did not take long for Issei to wash up and finished his breakfast, and he was ready to deal with school days again. However, the morning began with a slight difference.

"Good morning, Ise-kun!"

Issei blinked as he saw Jeanne waving at him with cheerful smile. He rubbed his eyes and massaged his temple for few moments - perhaps he was having an anemia, the effect of blood loss was starting to mess with his head.

When he opened his eyes again, Jeanne was still in front of him. In fact, she actually inched closer, allowing Issei's brown eyes to peer down to her amethyst orbs. "Is something wrong? You look unwell."

Issei blushed slightly at the proximity between him and the girl, but he brushed it off in order to reply her. "Nah, I'm fine. I'm good…" he then forced himself to face Jeanne again. "I… guess I have to thank you again for last night."

Jeanne stepped back as she beamed at Issei. "Ufufu… You're welcome again!" she then proceeded to walk towards the direction of Kuoh Academy. "Come on, Ise-kun. We have a school to attend, don't we?"

oXo

Issei was not sure if he should felt elated or disturbed by the whispering and murmurs around him.

"What is Hyoudou doing walking so close with a girl like that?"

"Get away from him! Who knows what he's doing with you in his mind by now!"

"She eventually will have to learn the truth about that perv in a hard way. Poor girl…"

"Did they really come here together, though?"

"Tch, lucky shot… Let's see if that babe still wants to walk with him tomorrow…"

Issei then found Jeanne actually scooted closer to him. "Say, Ise-kun…" she whispered to him. "Why is everyone looking funny at us?"

Now Issei had no idea if Jeanne was actually clueless or she was feigning ignorance. He noticed Matsuda and Motohama at the corner of his eyes; the two were glaring daggers at him. Perhaps his friends were about to greet him, but thought otherwise when they found him walking side-by-side with Jeanne.

"Let's… Just get on and get this whole thing done and over with." Issei sighed as he kept walking towards the school with Jeanne in tow, doing his best to ignore the whispers and the glares.

The school went on relatively fine, although Issei could not focus on the lesson due to the things weighing his mind; the man who attacked him before, Jeanne conjuring swords out of thin air, and the Two Kuoh Great Ladies had their sights on him. Everything was so damn confusing.

However, just when his mind was already overloaded - upon lunch break, the door to his class was opened, revealing Tsubaki Shinra with her regal, stern appearance - not unlike Souna Shitori, eliciting several squeals and cries of admiration from the male and female students alike. Ignoring the worships of her underclassmen, the Student Council vice-president walked until she stopped right before Issei's desk.

"Issei Hyoudou-san, please come to the Student Council office once the second-half of class period is over." That was all Tsubaki said cryptically before she immediately walked out of the class, leaving the dumbfounded Issei to process her words.

The rest of Issei classmates began to sent looks at him. Some were sending accusing looks, while some others were sending pity. Matsuda and Motohama were immediately on him, pressing for answers.

"...Ise, dude. What did you do?" the baldy friend asked Issei with hushed tone, his other friend also nodded in agreement.

"I… I don't know!" Issei also replied in hushed tone.

"Damn, man… The Student Council just summoned you personally to their office…. Well, it's been an honour to know you." Motohama retorted while placing his hand on Issei's shoulder sympathetically.

"Fuck you, Motohama! Don't just kill me off like that!" Issei retorted with slightly more heated tone.

"Alright, alright, I'm kidding!" Motohama backed off. "...But still, if vice-president called you like that, I still think you should prepare yourself."

In the end, Issei simply slumped his head on top of his desk, his hands running over his brown hair in frustration. "...Shit."

* * *

 **That's all for now, folks! Please let me know what you think of this chapter overall! No flames!**


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